Cam High math teacher Mr. Charlie Fiacco will take over as varsity girls soccer head coach after Ms. Christine Lawler, English teacher, announced her retirement as coach earlier this year.

“They couldn’t have picked a better person,” said Lawler. “It was a great choice, and the team will do well next year with him as coach.”

After ending the season with a modest 7-10-1 record this past year, both Lawler and Fiacco have high hopes for the upcoming season. “We are definitely going to compete for the league title, but our ultimate goal is to win the CIF championship,” said Fiacco.

“They should at least make playoffs, and they have a strong group of JV players that will make the jump and strengthen the varsity team,” said Lawler.

Fiacco has coached his youngest daughter’s AYSO and club soccer teams for the past seven years. His oldest daughter Jackie, senior, played four years of varsity soccer at Cam High and earned a division one scholarship offer from Loyola Marymount University for her soccer achievements.

“My daughters have really been the ones that have gotten me into soccer,” said Fiacco. “It has been their passion and success in the game that have, over time, invested me more and more in soccer.”

Despite being new to the position of varsity soccer coach, this is not the first time Fiacco has been a sports coach at the high school level. He coached baseball for over ten years combined at Hueneme High School and Cam High—experiences he believes will translate well to the soccer scene.

“A lot of the coaching mentality is the same,” said Fiacco. “You want to have fun, but at the same time it is equally important to be competitive. The approach to soccer is different than that of baseball, but if you can figure out where to move the chess pieces correctly, you can compete and win on any level.”